In re Hafen
PUBLISHED
On remand from the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Tenth Circuit, the Court was tasked with determining the standing of a group of creditors to bring state law claims against affiliates of the Debtor, and the Debtor himself by name only, taking place many years after the Debtor received his discharge. After determining that the group of creditors did own the claims at issue concurrently with the Trustee, and with the closure of the bankruptcy case, the creditors now had standing again to bring the claims in state court; then, the Court was tasked with determining whether the group of creditors violated the Debtor’s discharge injunction by bringing the claims, despite not seeking to recovery from the Debtor. Applying the tests of In re Robben, 562 B.R. 469 (Bankr. D. Kan. 2017) and In re Walker, 927 F.2d 1142 (10th Cir. 1991), the Court determined the group of creditors did violate the discharge injunction because the Debtor’s inclusion was not a prerequisite for recovery from the third party defendants.